Rise of the Strikers
by An0n Author
Summary: Chung has always been running from his past, and from his father. Now in High School, he finds that keeping his secret to himself is no longer going to be an option as his father is coming for him. His past his weapon, the Strikers will rise.
1. Chapter 1

**Well here I am with yet another story!**

**Blaze: What about Velder High!?**

**Hehe... Not enough inspiration to write it yet -w- But this one idea did cross my mind after I mentioned a possible idea to Kiyo for Raven's First SS Mission :3 You should go check it out by the way! It's really good!**

**Chung: Come on, who's going to be staring this story?**

**You are my fellow :3**

**Chung: WHAT!? YES!**

**Blaze: Is Ember and I going to be in it?**

**Sorry Blaze but... No OC's this time! I will have a story without an OC in it.**

**Blaze: Aw...**

**Anyway! The classes are going to be:**

**Rena: Night Watcher**

**Raven: Veteran Commander**

**Elsword: Lord Knight**

**Aisha: Elemental Master**

**Ara: Yama Raja**

**Eve: Code Nemesis.**

**Chung: Iron Paladin**

**Elesis: Grand Master**

**I'm not going to have Add in this cause... Well, I just can't write with him yet... There's just something about him that I don't like and can't write with him =w= Anyways, enough rambling! Onto the story!**

* * *

_**Day 1**_

* * *

_**Chung's POV:**_

"Chung!" I heard my name getting called out as I slept and I grunted in reply as I rolled over in my sleep. The voice sounded distant since I was still in a deep sleep and I just shrugged it off. "Come on man we're going to be late!"

"5 more minutes..." I grumbled out as I curled up tighter in my blanked, annoyed at Elsword for waking me up from my dream and I could hear him sigh. Not as if I really did care.

"Guess it's going to be the final resort then..." He said and it didn't hit me about what he was talking about when I felt a flurry of light, yet rough, fingers started to tickle my side. My sides heaved as I tried to suppress my laughs unsuccessfully before I broke out into laughter that ended up with myself falling out of my bed with a thud.

"Ahahahaha... I'm awake!" I announced as my chest heaved from the hard laughing and I looked into the red eyes that were shooting daggers into me.

"Come on Chung! Stop messing around and get ready for school! We're going to be late!" He yelled as he grabbed his tie and started to put it on while storming out of the room and I just sighed as I rubbed my eyes and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. Yawning as I stripped myself down, I threw my dirty pajamas into the hamper and turned on the hot water before jumping into the shower. The hot water felt nice as it poured down my back as I tended to cleaning my abnormally long blond hair and untangling the mess from my sleep. Stepping out and drying off, I looked towards the uniform I was issued and sighed as I slipped into it. It consisted of some light brown pants, a white dress shirt, a brown button up coat with the schools insignia on the left breast, and a tie.

"_Velder High huh?"_ I thought as I looked myself over in the mirror, fixing up my tie before I grabbed my briefcase and headed down stairs to meet Elsword and his sister Elesis at the table.

"There you are Chung." Elesis said as she slid a plate holding some bacon, toast, and a sunny side up egg towards me and I caught it before it fell off the table. "Eat up quickly so we can go." She said as she walked towards the door and I looked her over to see that she was too wearing the same top uniform that both Elsword and I had on, but without the brown pants. Instead, she wore a light brown skirt that ended just above her knees. Scarfing down my breakfast quickly, Elsword grabbed his own briefcase and we said our good byes to our parents and we went outside to climb into Elesis's car. She pulled out of the drive way and we all were now heading off towards Velder High.

"So when we're at the school, I'm going to be going as Lacher in stead of Chung?"

"Just like in middle school Chung. You of all the people in the car should know what might happen if your true identity is revealed." Elsword said as he turned around to look at me.

"Chung? Who is this Chung you're talking about? I'm Lacher!" I gave him one of my killing glares and he just sweat dropped.

"God I'm to used to your cheery side... I don't think I will ever get used to _that_ side of you Chu- I mean Lacher." I returned to my cheery self when the car became silent again. The silence was only broke when Elesis had pulled into the schools parking lot. We said our good byes for now and Elesis went her own way to the Junior side of the high school and both Elsword and I made our way towards the locker room to drop off our gym clothing before we headed off towards our home room. With my own heightened senses, including eye sight, hearing, and smell, I could pick up the small side conversations that were directed towards him.

"Hey you see that guy over there?"

"The one with the long blond hair? Such a cutie!~" I heard some girls talk about me and I smirked slightly.

"Hey, Valak, you see that guys over there?"

"The two that look like easy pickings? Hell yes I do." I glanced over to see a silver haired boy next to another black haired boy looking towards and I just instantly knew that the two would be trouble. For the short walk into the homeroom, some girls came up to compliment both me and Elsword and he was just eating this all up. Even along the way, I could hear the occasional insult about my hair and jokes about it from some guys and I knew that I had to keep my temper in check if I'm going to survive this year. Entering the homeroom, both Elsword and myself took two empty seats in the back of the class. We still had plenty of time until school started and Elsword just sat back, relaxing in his seat and I myself started to scan around the room taking notes on people and to find some people of interest. One had instantly jumped out to me was this guy with long black hair and a small patch of red hair on one side. He was considerably muscular for his age and his skin was deeply tanned. He just sat there with a blank stare into his desk while a flock of girls surrounded him, asking away for his number when a new girl walked into the class room. She had spring green hairs and a matching set of sharp green eyes along with a sizable chest that earned a lot stares from the boys in the room. A quick glare from her quickly snapped them out of their gaze and the girls looked up at her and scattered as she approached the black haired man. He finally looked up from the table as well and smiled lightly at her before looking back in my direction. When our eyes met, there was something in his gaze that made my neck hairs stand on point and my instincts went on alert. Even though it was for only a second, there was just something unsettling yet familiar in the way he looked at me when he turned back around to talk with the green haired girl. Looking around again, I spotted another girl two seats over from the green haired girl to spot this girl with golden amber eyes and long silver hair staring out of the window at the surrounding window. To a normal person, it looked like she was bored and just staring into nothingness, but to me I could tell that she was calculating something as her eyes shifted around slightly. There was also something about her that held my gaze when Elsword jabbed my side with his hand.

"What?" I asked Elsword, slightly annoyed.

"Who's that you're eyeing over there."

"What?" I said defensively and that only made him get this goofy grin on his face.

"I was you staring over at that girl over there.~ Something on your mind about her?" He asked while smirked and I could feel my cheeks heat up slightly and I sort of found my desk a bit more interesting suddenly.

"There's something about her that fells... Different from everyone else in this class." I looked back up Elsword and he had a serious look on his face again.

"I trust your judgement more than anyones here so I believe you. You think tha-" I gave him that glare again and he shut up again and I just sighed.

"You know, you really need to keep a tighter leash on you mouth sometimes." I joked and he grinned when two more girls walked into the class room, a purple headed girl followed by a long black haired girl. The black haired girl had long flowing hair and had amber eyes just like the silver haired girl with the other one had longish purple hair and had it parted over to the right side of her head. Looking over at Elsword, I could see that he was staring at the purple headed one and I poked him in the side teasingly. "And you said I was the one staring?"

"Screw you." He said and I watched the two finally sit down next to the silver haired girl and struck up a conversation.

'_Those two must be close together.' _I thought when the homeroom teacher came into the room to start the class roll. She called out names and people said hear when she called out their name and I took down mental notes to their appearances and names. I soon figured out the spring green haired girl name was Rena, the black haired guy was Raven, silver haired was Eve, purple Aisha, and was black Ara. Soon after she had taken roll, the bell had rung and everyone got up and went their own separate ways to their own classes when I noticed the two guys from earlier come into the class and I mentally sighed as they walked up to me.

"My, my, what long hair you've got there girl." The silver haired guy smirked at me when the black haired guy just looked at silver with a light smirk.

"Come on Lowe, you know that's a guy not a girl right?" The black haired guy said and Lowe took a closer look at me and sarcastically smacked his head as if he just made a huge mistake.

"Oh my god Valak. You're right! I'm sorry mister, it's just you've go-"

"Yeah, I know, it's cause I got long hair isn't it. You got a problem with that?" I cut him off and kept my composure as I looked at the two.

"My oh my Lowe, looks like the long haired pretty boy here has a mouth on him_**(Quotation from ShadisticArchdevil =w=)**_." Valak sneered at me and the two were really getting on my nerves to the point where I started to finger the hilt of one of my hidden blades when the teacher looked up from her papers and yelled at the two of them.

"Don't you two have a class to go to!?" She yelled at them and the two spun around still relaxed and with a stupid ass grin.

"Oh, I'm sorry Ms. Ariel." They both said in unison when Lowe looked at me with a stink eye. "We'll finish this later Seighart." The two of them walked out of the class room and Ariel just sighed as the two of them walked out of the class and I stood up with both of my stuff and walked over to her.

"Those two have always been a pain to other students since they've came here." She said. "They've just been getting into trouble all the time. Students have been complaining that they've been harassing girls, bullying others, and started up fights with other students. They've been suspended all ready, but since they're the kids of the principle of the school, they've been getting by a bit better than most other students. But, you can't do anything now... You should go on or you'll be late for your next class. Come talk to me if you they bother you more... And how do you keep your hair so straight?" She asked and I scratched the top of me head.

"Lots of brushing after a shower." I smirked as I left the class room to meet Elsword outside of the class. He gave me an annoyed looked and I raised my eyebrow to him.

"What the hell took you so long?"

"Two assholes that were trying to get a rise out of me," I said, "and they nearly got what they wanted too. I was so close to pulling my knife out to slit their throats on the spot."

"You mean those two asses that walked out of the class moments before?" I nodded my head. "What did they say this time?"

"Long haired pretty boy." I said bluntly and Elsword just laughed and I gave him an annoyed look.

"Not as worse as the other ones we've heard and is probably one of the worst names a person could think up of. Though knowing you could probably kill both of them on the spot must have their perks. I guess there are some ups to Project: Lazarus-" I clamped my hand down over his mouth and I shot him one of my killing glares and fear was evident in his eyes as I looked around calmly before removing my hand.

"Damn it, Els. You know better!" I hissed at him and he looked away in shame slightly. "You don't know who's listening in on us and knows about the project!" I said in a whisper when some movement caught me eye. I looked past him to see if anyone was there. Elsword turned around to see what I was looking at before looking back at me.

"You saw something?" He asked tentatively and I just shook my head.

"Must have been my imagination..." I said as I sighed to lighten my mood up. "Come on, lets get to class." With a wave of my hand, we parted ways to go to our own separate classes.

_**Eve's POV:**_

My back was pressed against the wall and my heart was beating from what I've heard.

'_He knows about Project Lazarus? He could be here to find myself and Aisha! I must tell her!'_ I though as I pulled my phone out and texted her.

"_Aisha! It's me."_

"_What is it Eve? You know we aren't supposed to use phones in class!"_

"_It's urgent."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_That guy I pointed out to you."_

"_The cute red head?"_

"_No the other one."_

"_The long blond one? What about him."_

"_He knows."_

"_Know what?"_

"_About Lazarus."_ I waited for a reply for what seemed like an hour when another text came through.

"_Be cautious around him. We don't know anything about that Lacher fellow... And to be honest, I don't think he's who he says he is."_

"_Should we tell Rena?"_

"_You remember when both Raven and yourself met and found out you both were Lazarus! You two nearly killed each other if it weren't for Rena and myself! No, we're not going to get Raven involved into this as well."_

"_But if I am going to take a shot, I need him as a spotter"_

"_Fine, but don't get him involved until you're about to shoot."_ With that last message, I pocketed my phone and ran to my next class and I'll be damned, _he_ was there as well and the only seat left in this class was right next to him. We both met eye to eye for a second when he broke off before I took my seat. A minute later, class had started and we went over the review for the middle school math we had which bored the hell out of me. After a while of lecturing, he finally gave out a piece of paper with multiple different math problems to confirm weather or not we really knew the old formulas and math. Seeing how I had perfect grades last year, I knew the material way ahead of everyone else. Though it also seemed that Lacher fellow next to me also got the paper done in time cause both of use got up at the same time to hand in our papers. As we both turned in our papers, I took a quick glance at the clock and saw that I didn't have much time left until the period ended. This is the one period that I can finally figure out to confirm my all ready high suspicion of this Lacher boy.

"Hey, Lacher was it?" He turned and looked at me with his large, soft, cerulean blue eyes. I nearly felt bad suspecting him to be one of them but they were trained for deception.

"Yeah? You're Eve right?" He asked and I nodded my head.

"Correct. Say, I've been planing a trip with Aisha to go to Hamel for some time and I was wondering if you've been there?" There was a small spark of recognition at the words Hamel in his eye that no ordinary person would catch and he just shook his head.

"Sorry, I've never been there. But I do intend to go some day." He said.

"Well, when you do go, there's this one thing that I find very interesting. There's this one statue that's dedicated to this person and on a placard on the bottom is this interesting poem that a person named _Lazarus_ had written for him." Looking deeper into his eye, another spark of recognition, this time somewhat more powerful and brighter than the last when the bell rung.

"I'll be sure to check it out Eve." He said somewhat rushingly as he packed up and left without another word confirming a suspicion that was all ready answered. Pulling out my phone again, I started to text Aisha again.

"_Confirmed. He knows about Lazarus."_

"_Can you guess his rank?"_

"_From what I saw... He might be an A, or a low S rank."_

"_Nothing that an SS like yourself can't handle."_

"_Of course. Do you think I should take him out."_

"_Your call Eve."_ I hung up with a slight grin as I'm able to test if the training I've been doing since I was freed from lazarus still kept me as sharp as before. I packed my bag and left for my next period.

* * *

_**Chung's POV:**_

"Shit man." Elsword said and I mentally beat myself over the head for giving off so much information about him even though he didn't even say a word. "Look, you're not gonna do anything risky or aggressive towards her?"

"I'm not Els. I'm almost certain she's like me in the fact that she hated Lazarus and I think she might have the wrong idea about me. I'm going to be passive about her unless she shows any hostilities towards me." I said in a hushed voice.

"That's understandable." Elsword said with a nod of his head. "Come on now, lets get to Science class." I nodded in agreement and we both headed off towards out next class. In that class, we met Rena again and we got to know her better since we paired up with her as lab partners and the three of us soon quickly became friends. Next I had History with Elsword again and this time we met up with Aisha. We talked some though she seemed a bit stiffer when she was talking to me and I didn't really know why she acted that way. After that, Els and myself had English and Raven was also in that class. After that was lunch and the food was surprisingly good since it _was _cafeteria food. Rena had even dragged along Aisha, Eve, Ara, and Raven to sit with us. Rena was just chatting it up with us while Raven just sat there silently eating his food while Aisha just kept on giving me this uneasy feeling. We all talked and I even found out that Aisha, Rena, Ara, Raven, were all really close friends from middle school. We talked more and more and we became closer as if there was some sort of this understanding between us all. With lunch over, we all dumped off our trash and headed for our separate changing rooms. The gym consisted of mixed grades and I knew Elesis was going to be in this class as well. When I entered the changing room, I mentally groaned as I saw a familiar black and silver haired boys in the changing room as well. I ignored some of the sideways glances some guys gave me thinking I was a girl along with the goofy grins that Valak and Lowe giving me and went to change into my gym clothes which consisted in some blue shorts and a white tee. Closing my locker door, I walked out into the large gym to see that there was weight training area, stretching areas, and even an area with some free weights. Elsword was close on my heels with a red tee and shorts when two strong arms grabbed us both into a headlock.

"Well, hello there squirts." Elesis said still having the two of us in a head lock. "You been good so far in school?" She asked curiously and I struggled to turn to look up at her and grinned slightly.

"It's been good... Now can you let us go or am I gonna need to release myself?" I asked as an evil look came over my face and she let go quickly knowing last time she said no, I nearly broke her arm. Stretching my arms, I looked back at the door to see Eve, Aisha, Rena, Ara, and Raven come out through the door and Rena waved to us with a warm smile.

"Lacher!" She called out as they walked over to us and Elesis turned around confused who was called my name out.

"Who's that?" She said.

"My name is Rena, one of Lacher friends." She said and Elesis looked back at me with a smirk on her face. "Is that so?"

"And you are..." Ara trailed off as she looked at Elesis.

"I'm Elesis, the two squirts big sister." She said as she got Elsword in a head lock to give him a noogie. Everyone else introduced themselves to her after and more students started to fall into the gym when a tall, tanned buff guy, with a whistle around his neck, clipboard in hand, and a t-shirt that was obviously too tight for him entered the room.

"Now then, if you all don't know who I am, I'm Coach Banthus! You can address me as "Coach" or as "Coach Banthus" understood?" Silence followed shortly and he then continued. "Today, we will be doing some physical fitness testing to see how much you will change from the start of this year, and the end of this quarter! First, we will time how long you can run the mile, so that means four times around the track! Next, we will do weight training to see how much you can bench press. After that, you'll be working pull-ups and then onto push-ups. In between all of these activities, I want to see you stretching cause I don't want to hurt yourselves. Now come on! Everyone on your feet and outside no for the mile test!" He yelled at everyone and they all got up and started to walk towards the door. Getting on the track, the sun was high in the sky with not a single cloud in sight accompanied by a very pleasant breeze. With everyone on the track, Banthus got his whistle ready and I smirked.

'_A mile test? This will be easy.'_ I thought when Valak pushed me in the shoulder.

"Try and keep up with me pretty boy. You don't really look like the athletic type to me." He sneered and I rolled my eyes as I looked forward again.

"Now remember your time when you cross the finish line when I say it to you! Now, on your marks! Get set!" Banthus yelled out as he get his whistle into his mouth, and thumb on the stop watch. With a high pitch blow from his whistle, we all were off. We all were clumped together in the start, but soon the in shape people started to separate from the out of shape people. Eve, Raven, and myself lead the pack of people by a fair distance with Elesis right behind us. I'm not so surprised since she usually took runs with me all the time. Behind her was Elsword, Aisha, and Ara followed by Valak and Lowe in the rear. As we made our way around the track, we lapped some of the other students and I even over took Eve and Raven. By the end of our mile, Raven's, Eve's and my own time ranged with in seconds of each other going from six minutes, 12 second, six minutes and 14 second, and six and 18 seconds. My fore head was drenched in perspiration and I whipped it down with my t-shirt as I gulped down a bottle of water. Everyone else was also sweating gallons when they also finished and we all went back into the air conditioned gym. Entering, there was a consecutive sigh of relief as the cold air ran over us though Coach Banthus didn't really give us any time to rest and had us stretching for weight training. As I sat down on a mat to start my stretching I heard snickering behind me, originating from Lowe.

"Geez, Lacher. You may run fast and long, but can you lift?" He asked with a sneer. "I mean, those arms don't look that muscular at all compared to these guns." He said as he flexed his muscles and I just sighed and ignored him when he called us up in groups of six. The first group he called up was Elsword, Aisha, Rena, Ara, and two other girls I've never seen before and I'd say that Aisha, Rena, and Ara could pull more than I thought they could when he called for myself, Eve, Raven, Elesis, Valak and Lowe next. Both Lowe and Valak went first and they could both bench 100 to 120 pounds which was good and Elesis went higher with 140 pounds when it was my turn. I just took off the four ten pounders that Elesis had on and kept on sliding 25 pounders on until I got to 200 pounds. Both Valak and Lowe gave me amused, yet confused glances while Eve and Raven gave me curious glances as I got under the bar. Even the coach gave me a worried glance.

"You sure you can handle that Kid? You know you don't really look like a person with a lot of... "Meat" on his bones to say." He said and I just smirked.

"I got this." I said as I grabbed the bar and lifted before bringing it down before pushing it for my required 6 reps. My muscles burned with each push and the strain only got worse as I went along until I hit my sixth one. Pushing back up and placing the bar back on the rests, some students were gawking at me especially Lowe and Valak and I shook them off when Raven stepped up. He loaded even more wights onto the bar and went through his reps on an even more impressive display of strength by lifting 250 pounds and Eve went with 160. I caught Aisha giving me a concerned glance when she was talking to Eve and I just shrugged it off as the other students were getting tested. I could feel the hard glares of both Lowe and Valak were giving me when we all moved onto the pull up bar. I went first and started to do my regular drill of 40 one armed pulled ups and Banthus stopped me when I reached 20.

"Geez, Lacher, I swear you're some sort of fitness god or something... You pass." He said and I smirked as I dropped down from the bar giving it to the next person. Everyone else did fairly well when we all went to go do the push ups.

"So with the push-ups, you will go down and when I say up, you will push back up. Simple right? Now down!" He said as well all went down. "Up!" We all went up and the cycle continued. The strain was a nice feeling as my muscles screamed for oxygen and slowly, one by one were dropping off, reaching their limits. Ara was the first to go at 20 push ups followed by Rena and Aisha at 28. Valak, Lowe, and some other girls dropped to the floor form exhaustion at 36 when Elsword and Elesis dropped at 42 leaving only myself, Raven, and Eve. Eve dropped out at 58 and I was nearing my own limits as well. My breathing started to get even heavier as I reached my standard limit of 60 push up and I pushed myself to 64 before dropping out as well and Raven even pushed to 72 before he fell as well. Rolling on my back with my chest heaving, I just laid there trying to steady my breathing down, Banthus dismissed us from class and I got up warily to the changing room. Getting dressed back into my uniform and slapping on some deodorant before I left.

* * *

_**Eve's POV:**_

'_He's a lot stronger than I thought.'_ I though as I puled my shirt over my head. _'Though looking into his eyes, there's nothing threatening about him... Then again, they did teach us to deceive others... But I am the best of the best so I should be able to see through his deception...'_ I sighed as I kept thinking when I (**Aisha: NO! I AM NOT! I AM NO- Anon: YOU ARE DOING IT!)** felt two hands grab my breasts from behind. I squeaked in surprise and looked back to see the purple head smiling.

"Aisha!" I yelled at her red faced and he just giggled.

"What? You were so deep in though you didn't respond to your name so I went the next best thing to get your attention... And you still haven't grown at all Evey.~" She teased and I glared at her.

"You aren't any better Aisha.~" I teased as I pointed at hers and she just glared back. I laughed as I pulled on my skirt when Rena walked over fully dressed.

"And you two won't grow as large as mine.~" She teased with a slight giggle and we both glared at her. "But, I don't know why you two want larger chests... These things just get in the way a lot... And they attract a lot of stares from guys..."

"And that's why you've got Raven with you most of the time!~" Aisha said cheerfully as she got dressed as well and I passively went back into deep though which concerned both Aisha and Rena.

"Eve, you're never like this," Rena said, "what's going on in that calculative mind of yours?" She asked, her own emerald orbs staring into my amber ones and I looked at Aisha for permission. Receiving a nod, I bent forward to whisper into her ear.

"It's about the new kid."

"What about that guy? He's really nice! What about him that concerns you? Are you in love with him?~" She teased again but I gave her a glare.

"He knows." The smile on her face disappeared nearly instantly before she pulled back, bringing her hands to my shoulder, she stared me in the eye deeply.

"Are you sure?"

"He reacted to the little test I gave him... Though I've never seen him before so I don't know his ranking..." All of the other girls were all ready changed and had walked out leaving only myself, Rena, and Aisha there so we could talk a bit louder.

"What are you gonna do?"

"We don't know his intentions but... I say we should kill him. You know what happened with Raven and I. We nearly killed each other!"

"What if he means no harm? What if it's just a coincidence he's coming to the same school we're going to? What if _he_ doesn't know?"

"Rather have him dead than have him potentially out to kill us..." I said quietly. "Have Raven meet me in the schools clock tower immediately after school. I need him as my spotter." I said quickly as I grabbed my bag and headed off to my next class. It was spanish and I was taught the basics of it when I was with Lazarus. While in the program, I've also became fluent in Russian, German, and Japanese so Spanish couldn't be that hard. As soon as class got out, I packed up everything and quickly went to the little hiding place I had for my rifle. Grabbing the silver case, I sneaked my way up into the tower to meet Raven, and I found him all ready in the hide with a telescope in place. A snipers hide was created by myself expertly so that no one could see in easily wit out any sort of magnification.

"You're hear early." I said as unlocked the locks and with drew my rifle.

"If he's here to hunt us down, then I'd rather take him down quickly." Raven said as I braced the bipod legs on a little support piece. "Target sighted by his "sisters" red car. Laser reads that the range is 132 meters out."

"Easy enough." I said as I doped my scope**(For those who aren't a military addict like I am... Doping the scope means turning the dials so where the cross-hairs point is where the bullet hits)** and I zoomed in to get a better look of that one area. I didn't want to miss and harm one of his colleges or he might retaliate.

"Send it when shooter is ready." Flicking the safety off, I slowed my breathing, steadying my aim when he turned around and looked up at the tower... No, up at me! I hesitated pulling the trigger since his eyes had changed... They weren't the soft round ones he had all day long, but more of a sharp hard ones; almost animal like. He shook his head slightly as he looked at me before he got into the car and he drove away.

"What the hell was that?" I whispered out as I flicked the safety back on and looked at Raven for an answer. "You saw that right?"

"I did but... Did he really see us?" I shook my head as I placed my rifle back into its case, locking it down before getting out of the hide.

'_The sniper hide was nearly flawless... He isn't a A rank or low S rank... He's on par with Raven and myself... This is going to end badly if he's out to kill us.'_ I thought as I stowed my weapon away again and went to inform Aisha about what happened.

* * *

_**Chung's POV:**_

"What took you so long Chung?" Elsword asked as I got into the back seat. I remained silent until Elesis cleared the parking lot before I explained.

"A shooter and spotter were located in the clock tower above the school." I said monotoned and Elsword just looked shocked while Elesis put on a worried look. "I couldn't see any faces or any distinct features, but there was defiantly someone in there with a rifle. The hide was also very well done, and if it weren't for my training I wouldn't have picked it up, so we aren't dealing with any normal Lazarus fighters... I think these might be some of their best produced..." I said quietly and Elsword had some fear in his eye.

"God damn it Chung... You can't go to school with them after you!" He gave me a worried glance and I just shook my head.

"They're probably scared that they might be hunted down... After all, my father disappeared after I exposed Project Lazarus. I think he still wants to get rid of anyone associated with it... And what better tool to use to kill another member of the same project?" I said as I laid back in my seat.

"Well lets hope this year won't be to exciting." Elesis added as we drove home.

**And there's chapter1! And it's much longer than I thought it would be ._. ... By about 1,000 words -w-**

**Eve: *Cover her chest while blushing***

**Oh come on Eve... It's not that bad...**

**Elsword: Hehe, I wish I was the one that tou-**

**Anon: *Throws a fork into Elsword head* HYA! **

**Elsword: KYAAA! *Falls backwards***

**Chung: Oh god... I think he found his new weapon...**

***Arms self with a muffin blaster and forks* HEhehehehehehehehehhe!~~~**

**Kaji: EVERYONE FOR THEMSELVES! ANON HAS GONE CRAZY! GYAA! *Forked***

**Raven: *Leaning back in his chair reading a magazine and not giving a f*ck***

**FORWARD MY GROUNDHOG-**

***Connection Lost***


	2. Chapter 2

**Blaze: *Pulls the fork out of his head* Is it over?**

**Saki: *Dragging Anon away***

**Anon: *Giant red welt on his head as he gets dragged away***

**Ember: It's over... Good.**

**Raven: *Reading a magazine again* Now I can get back to this...**

**Chung: *Sweat drops* Well then... I guess I will take over now since Anon isn't here so lets get this story on!**

_**The Strikers**_

_**Elsword's POV:**_

"Again Chung? We're seriously going have to do this again?" I said as I looked down at the mess of long blond hair under a blanket and just sighed.

"One more hour Els..." He said and I just face palmed before I thought of a very VERY stupid idea as I walked over to his shelf. On top sat his prized Pikachu plushy and he has this very weird attachment to any Pikachu objects... Though I guess it has to do something with his natural looking Pikachu ears... I was just ten feet away from his bed inching my finger towards the plushy. I glanced back to see him shift slightly in his bed and I looked back towards the plushy about an inch away from touching it when I felt some sharp cold metal against my neck.

'_Ok, this was a HORRIBLE IDEA!'_ I screamed in my mind as I backed my hand off sweat dropping, when I turned around to meet Chung's animal like eyes. His eyes always changed like that from his soft round ones to a sharper, more cat like ones when he goes into "attack" mode... I'd rather call it the "scare the living shit out of you" mode instead if you'd ask me when he sighed and sheathed his knife again.

"You know what happens when someone touches Pikachu there Els..."

"And you're out of bed now! Now come one! Get ready!" I said rushingly as I gingerly got out of his room. My heart was racing as I made it down stairs and I could feel the sweat beading on my head.

'_Why do I do such stupid things to get that guy out of bed?'_ I though as I sat down heavily at the kitchen table.

"Sweating, breathing much harder... You tried to touch Chung's Pikachu to get him out of bed right?" Elesis asked practically knowing the whole situation as if it was a sixth sense of hers and I nodded my head as I bit down on my toast.

"Next time, YOU'RE going to get him up! And he's damed scary when he wants to be! I mean, I'm 10 feet away from his bed and he's there right behind you with a knife to your throat with in a second and you don't hear a thing! I swear he's going to accidentally kill me one day..." I scarfed down the rest of my toast and rested my head backwards.

"Come on Els. You know he has the self control and accuracy to make sure he won't accidentally kill you. You mean to much to him to just let you go for that. He owes you to much for that so he wouldn't put your life at risk if he knew he couldn't handle it... Though the thought that he knows he can just push a millimeter more to slit our throats isn't settling at all..." She said almost ghostly and I shivered.

"Who slits who throats now? You're not talking about me are you two?" Well, speak of the devil, he's done as well. "I know when to stop... Even though it's literally a hair away form killing you... And you know how much I care for the two of you. If it weren't for you two, then I wouldn't have gotten out alive and Lazarus would still be operational and unknown to the public." He said as he grabbed the last piece of toast and bacon before we were off to school once more.

"Mom and Dad are both out on business trips to both Bethma and Altera so we'll be on our own at the house until they're done." Elesis informed us and I just groaned.

"You know, it kind of sucks not being able to see them as often..." I complained.

"Well they got enough food for us until then and they left enough money to order take out if needed or to go buy more food so that won't be a problem." She said.

"Wonder what they're doing..." Chung said quietly as he looked off out of the window. Ever since yesterdays encounter, he's been a bit off and distant from us but I didn't question him. He has always had his reasons and when he gets into this state, it's better to not butt into it all. When we got to school, Chung said that he needed to grab something from the car and both Elesis and I knew what he meant. I told him to meet me at the usual area in front of school before we go to the home room when Aisha came up to me.

"Elsword!" She seemed a bit out of breath as if she was just running or something and I looked at her a bit confused.

"His Aisha. You need something?" She had this small sense of desperation in her eyes as she pointe back from where I saw her run from.

"There's an animal hurt behind the school! Please come!" She said and I looked back at the parking lot to see if Chung was coming out yet. Seeing no signs of blond hair, I reluctantly went along with Aisha to the back of the school. She stopped and held her hands close to her chest as she looked down slightly.

"I'm sorry..." She said quietly. I looked at her questionably when I felt a sharp pain come from my head. My body just froze up before I fell to the ground. I saw her turn around with some sorrow in her eyes before I blacked out completely.

_**Eve's POV:**_

"I'm sorry..." I heard Aisha say before Raven stepped out from cover bringing his fist down on the back of Elswords head, knocking him out cold. He hit the ground quite hard and Rena gave Raven a hard glare.

"Jeez, are you trying to give him a concussion or something?!" She hissed at him and he shook it off.

"The blow was appropriate for him. He's tougher than he looks Rena." I stepped forward to take part in searching his body as the two argued quietly when I found his phone.

"I don't like going into people's personal items, but if it means keeping us safe then that's justified." Aisha said as I tossed her his phone so she could go through the numbers on it. I tied up and gagged Elsword for when he woke up, he wouldn't make much of a fuss when Aisha found the correct number.

"Aha! Got it." She said victoriously. "Eve, you should take your position so I can send the text."

"Rule of engagement?"

"You know the drill. When I give the signal, take the shot."

"Of course." I said before I ran out to the little hide I set up 100 meters out in a bush along the tree line. I sat down on my mat and got my rifle ready when she made the text.

'_Lets see how good you really are Lacher.'_

_**Chung's POV:**_

Having everything I needed from the car, I got out and locked it with now my blue scarf around my neck since it was a bit chilly when my phone buzzed. I took it out to see that I got a text from Els.

'_Strange...'_ I thought as I opened my phone to read it.

"_Hey man, can you meet me in the back of the school? Got some new leads."_ I closed my phone and sighed.

'_So they got Els? Damn it... Things just got more complicated... Looks like I'm going to need to confront them anyways... May the Lady El look upon me and wish me well...'_ I thought as I made my way towards the back of the school. Rounding the corner, I stepped into a heavily shadowed area where no one could easily see us easily and I sighed.

"I know this is a trap..." I said out loud when I reached into my bag fluently grabbing my two pistols from it, I dropped it and aimed one at the target in the shadows behind me and to the person in front of me. All this happened with in a second when i got a better look at my two targets I noticed they were both Rena and Raven. Rena wasn't armed Raven was a different story. "So you're one of them Raven?"

"Back at you Lacher... Or can I know your real name?" He asked and I hardened my glare at him.

"Where's Elsword?" I demanded when Aisha came out from behind Rena with Elsword in hand all tied up. She gave me a slight sad look but I returned with my glare when I glanced between the four of them. "If you're wondering, I'm not here to kill or hunt down any of you from Lazarus. That was never my intention and can you please call off Eve from that bush down there so we don't accidentally do something we will regret?" I said. Looking hard at Aisha she hesitated slightly before she got on her phone and texted her. I eased up on my own fire arms letting them rest at a low ready along with Raven when Els finally came too.

"Mmmmpppphhhh!" He yelled through his gag when Rena took it off and he gave a hard glare at Aisha. "What the hell was that for!?" He yelled at her and she seemed slightly hurt when Eve came up behind him.

"To use you as bait." She startled him by her sudden appearance when she had also cut away his restraints as well. With his wrists free, he rubbed them trying to loosen up some of the soreness in them when Eve sat down giving me the same blank stare Raven was giving me now. "Tell me, what is your true name? We all know that Lacher Seighart isn't your true name." I gave Elsword a questioning glance and he just nodded his head.

"Well... I just want to make it clear that I mean no harm to you what so ever so please bare with me when I say my name?" I looked at the group and they nodded their head slightly and I took a breath in before letting it out. "You want my real name? Then... My real name is... Chung Seiker..." I rushed my last name and it still tasted like poison to say my name when Raven jumped me. He had a knife inches my neck and he would have had it in it if it wasn't for my reflexes. Rena hauled Raven off before giving him a hard slap across his cheek settling him down.

"I'm... I'm sorry..." He said quietly and both Elsword and myself gave him a questionable look and then at Rena for an answer.

"So you're... Helputt's... Son... Even his son was in the program..." She said silently. "I'm sorry for Raven's actions... He has a... Touch past with Helputt and it isn't for the better either..." She said.

"So he even subjected his son to the same program?" Aisha said astonished. "That's just... He's such a monster..." She said quietly.

"Now it's my turn for a question. Tell me, what's the name of the unit you've been assigned to and your code name that you've been given during the project?" Both of them looked at me questionably and I continue to explain. "I didn't know anyone there specifically by name or look, but only by their code name, the rank that's associated with it along with the units name."

"If you want... I was from the Nemesis unit and been given the code name of Code Nemesis." She said and I nodded my head.

"I was part of the Veteran unit and I was given the Code name Veteran Commander." Raven said and I nodded my head.

"Only the best of the best get named after the unit they're based out of..." I said quietly. "That puts you at an SS rank..."

"So what unit, code name, and rank you were given?" Raven asked me curiously and I hesitated slightly eyeing him and Eve slightly. "To be honest, I've not seen you around at all... But you look like you belong to unit Paladin." I hesitated slightly before shaking my head.

"I wasn't part of unit Paladin... I was part of unit Chaser and code named the Deadly Chaser..."

"Unit Chaser? No such unit exists!" Eve argued and I put my hand up to silence her.

"That's because it's not a regular unit like yours was. Mine was one of a kind that my father had put in place for me and I've received special training from all branches. Much more than the regular courses." I said as my memories of my past start to surface.

"So what would your rank be compared to Eve's and Ravens?" Rena asked.

"SSS." I said in a monotone voice and kept a straight face as both Aisha and Rena gawked at me while Eve and Raven only reacted by raising an eye brow at me.

"Never heard of a person with that rank before." Raven objected.

"You've never seen a person like me before." I said and he only shook his head when Aisha face turned white as she realized something.

"Oh El, we're going to be late for class!" She yelled when I noticed something off in the parking lot. Placing my hand up, I edged myself towards the edge of the wall and peered around the corner to see a black van come speeding into the school grounds. As it came to a screeching halt, the side door opened up and armed gunmen filed out of it, shooting into the air causing some students to panic. I pulled back behind the corner as Elsword threw himself on top of Aisha while Raven dragged Rena to the wall with Eve behind him pressing against the wall again. With my enhanced vision, I peaked around the corner to see a very familiar patch on the side of the masked gunmen. I grit my teeth and tightened my fist as I saw the symbol for Project Lazarus on the gunmen's arm. My instincts started to take over as I grabbed my pistols, ready to rush out there to kill every single one of them when Raven grabbed my arm.

"What the hell do you think you're going!?" He hissed at me as the alarms went off.

"To deal with the problem. Those were Lazarus personnel out there Raven! They're here for us!"

"How do you know if they're not after just one of us?" Elsword asked as he helped Aisha, who was blushing beyond belief, to her feet when she gave some glances back to Raven and Rena and they shook their head.

"We've also been... On the run. They found us out when we were in Bethma so we ran to and we thought we threw them off our trail when we got to Velder but... I guess we missed something when we got here." She said as her voice trailer off when the one of the gunmen got onto a megaphone.

"Is this thing on? Testing! Testing! We know you're residing here Ms. Nemesis. Mr. Seiker would like to have a word with you so please come quietly. We've got hostages held up in the gym so try anything and they're all dead. The Cops also better not step a foot inside this school as well, or they're all dead as well. Turn yourself in, and all these students will be freed!" He demanded before his transmission was cut and I pulled the hammers back on both of my pistols.

"Like hell I'm going to turn myself in! They're just going to kill me to get rid of any loose ties to the project!" She yelled as when my phone buzzed again. It was from Elesis.

"_Gunmen holding us in gym. With your friend Ara. Don't do something stupid."_ It said and I sighed as things got more complicated.

"They got Ara and Elesis..." I said quietly.

"What?" Aisha asked shocked and I looked up at her.

"They got Ara and my sister." I repeated louder before I reached into my bag again to change my pistol magazines for some non-lethal rounds. Instead of bullets, they had mini tranquilizer darts. Wracking the slides back to eject the bullets and chambering the new rounds, I started to think up a plan.

"I know we just met and tried to kill each other, but I need your cooperation if we're going to get everyone out of this alive."

"They got one of our friends so we're behind you 100%." Eve said in a monotone voice. "What's the plan?"

"Since they're in the gym, then we can attack them from the roof. You both got non-lethal rounds?" I pointed to the two and they both nodded before switching out their ammo as well. "Good. Eve, I want you as overwatch when both Raven and myself drop on them. Shoot anything that will pose as a problem." I peaked around the corner again when I heard police sirens echo off in the distance and I saw that most of the students had all ready evacuated the building that weren't trapped in the gym.

"Wait, how are we going to get down from the roof onto them from one of the sky lights?" Raven asked and I only smirked at him.

"It's only a two story drop. Landing on one of the gunmen should break our fall."

"What if one of the students gets a good look at us? Even if we save them all, they will look at us differently and we will have to move to a different school again." Eve said before I reached back into my bag again before pulling out a voice modulator mask that covered the lower part of my face before tossing them the two spares I carried.

"This should help with concealing our voices and for our eyes and hair... I know they handed out scarves matching your unit for the top 5 people in each group. You still have theirs?" Both Eve and Raven shook their head when Aisha and Rena gave each other guilty glances before reaching into their bags to produce the long scarves.

"You had them all this time? I thought I told you to throw it away Aisha!" Eve scolded Aisha as she looked at the silver fabric in her hands and Rena had a black scarf like fabric speckled with some red on her hands as well.

"I know it's just... I couldn't bring myself to throw it away... And you're damned lucky that I still have it for this situation." She shot back before handing it to her. Rena gave back Ravens and the two two of them placed the masks over their face before wrapping their heads and hair in the scarf. Tying my own hair back, I wrapped my own head leaving only my eyes before I slid some sun glasses over them.

"How do we look?" I asked the other three and they gave thumbs up.

"I can understand the glasses 'cause there are very few people here with cerulean blue eyes and I wouldn't know that you three were Raven, Rena and Lacher." Rena said before looking at me funny. "Or is it Chung? I don't know what to go with..." She shook her head, shaking the thought off. Turning on the voice modulators, I told both Aisha, Rena, and Elsword to get back to the crowd of other students behind the cops so they won't get caught and Raven, Eve, and myself scaled up the windows and walls before reaching the roof. I scowled as I saw that the sky lights were securely bolted to the steel frames in the roof. Sneaking over to look into one, I could make out 6 different targets. One was guarding the door that leads from the main hall way into the gym while another, who must have been the leader, was walked around away from the large group of students in the center. The other four were stationed around the students with their guns at the ready.

"Looks like we're going to need to break the sky lights in..." I said and I looked to see that two of the guys, including the leader, was standing basically underneath a sky light and both Raven and I took positions. Eve was kneeling on the ground with her rifle in hand before wracking the bolt chambering a new round. I flicked the safety off my pistols and nodded to Raven, giving us the signal to jump. Jumping through the skylights earned terrified screams from some of the students as glass shattered and scattered to the ground. I land hard on the back of the leader flattening him and I rolled off of him into a shooting position, bringing my guns up shooting down one of the gunmen. I glanced over to see Raven had done the same with his target but he rolled up into a run before delivering a flying kick into the chest of another gunmen taking out four in total. Above, I heard a silent "thump" noise from Eve's silenced rifle before she too jumped down onto the last gunmen that was sneaking up on me. Bringing down the butt of her rifle down on his head, she knocked in out when Raven kicked down the doors into the main hall.

"Everyone! Through here!" He yelled, his voice heavily modulated by the modulator and the group started to rush out through the open doors. I saw Elesis as she ran by with Ara right next to her and she gave me a glance with a small smirk as she ran past me. I gave both Raven and Eve a glance before the three of us bolted out of the door in the back as the cops started to rush in. They hadn't seen us escape and we made it back to the spot we were hiding in, stuffing the scarves we had into out bags along with the modulators and snuck our way into the crowd. We both met up with Aisha, Rena, Elsword, Elesis, and Ara and Ara was ecstatic about what had happened with everyone else.

"Lacher! Eve! Raven! Where were you two!? Never mind, you heard what just happened!?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Uuuhh... No, we don't. What's with all this chatter?" I asked looking around.

"Three unknown students just saved us from those gunmen!"

"Are you sure they were students from this school?" Raven asked skeptically and Ara nodded her head quickly.

"Of course! The two males and single female wore undoubtedly the schools uniform!" Ara continued on about the tale as I listened in on conversation with other students. They all were talking about what happened when the principle announced that school was dismissed until the investigation was done. I said my good byes to Eve, Raven, and the others before I got into Embers car.

"Nice going there Chung." Ember said as she pulled out of the parking lot and looked at me in the rear view mirror. "You did good getting the others to help you as well."

"Yeah man! That was freaking awesome!" Elsword joined in and I shook my head as I ran hand through my hair.

"I just couldn't stand around and do anything..."

"And it looks like you've also found a way to use those skill you've learned in the project, and use them for good intentions." He added.

"Though my father knows there's at least one target here, the rumors that will spread after today will say that there's three of us here and knowing him, he will do nothing till we're all dead..."

"Still, we beat him today so lets focus on that. And as a reward for the hero in the back of the car, dinner and lunch will be your choice." Elesis announced and I smirked widely.

"Phoru's Pizza it is for today!" I announced happily in the back of the car.

_**The Next Day**_

I'd expected that there would be some hype about the defense from yesterday, but I didn't expect the hype to be this large. In the schools paper, there some adds to join some clubs to be expected, but it was basically filled with things about yesterdays attack. The were ecstatic about everything to a point where they even gave a name for us. In the papers, Eve, Raven, and myself were referred to as, **"The Strikers," **for how quickly we took down the six enemies and released them.

"We've made quite the name for ourselves." I said quietly to both Raven and Eve.

"I know, you three are practically pop star famous." Rena said. I gave the paper for the other to read as I laid back in my chair and looked out the window.

'_This is great and all but... How will my father react to this? When will he attack...'_

_**Helputt's POV:**_

"Sir, the capture unit you've sent out has been captured and are in for questioning." One of my servants said and I furrowed my brow.

"Nemeis is resisting?"

"She is sir but..."

"But what?" I demanded.

"It looked like she had help..." He said before walking over to me with a paper in hand.

"'The three Strikers saved hostage students... Any idea who the other two are?"

"We know that the Veteran Commander is working with Code Nemesis but... The third one is unknown..."

"I see..."

"Further orders, sir?"

"Wait now. I want more recon on the area. Identify the last "Striker" and then report back to me."

"Of course sir." I furrowed my brow as I looked at the magazine before throwing it into a fire I had in front of me.

"These three will be taken care of. I won't let any of Lazarus's subjects live. As log as they exist, then my life is in jeopardy... Even if it means I have to destroy Velder High, so be it..." I sat back down in my chair plotting up my next plan when my mind crossed onto the unknown person.

'_Just who are you exactly...'_

**And here's chapter two! And wow, this is doing much better than I thought this story would go! Thank you all for reviewing and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**And now here's the next chapter! From now on I will keep these beginning notes short so you can jump right into the story!**

_**Loosening Up**_

_**Chung's POV:**_

It's been a few weeks since the first attack and everything has ben quiet since then, though the hype of us, the Strikers, has been going strong ever since. Speculations had been made of who we really were and some people came up with stories that said we were some sort of secret government operation and they weren't far from the truth. Replace government with a crazed multimillionaire and children that were taken against their will and forced to train to become the best of the best assassins out there in the world. Everyone in the school even started to wear one of our scarves around to a point where even Eve, Raven and myself started wearing our own. Though everything didn't go as unnoticed as I would have liked when Ara asked a question out of nowhere when school got out for the weekend.

"Say... I wonder what it's like to be one of the Strikers." She said. "What do you think Eve?"

"I wouldn't know what it would be like." She said in a monotone voice. "And if I was, I say it would be a difficult life."

"Aaawww, really? I'd though you'd have an easier time than that." She whined and we all stopped in our tracks and looked at her. "Whatchu lookin' at me like that for?" I gave both Raven and Eve a quick glance before we dragged her behind the school. "Oi! Where you taking me!" She complained. Getting her behind the school I knew it was time to tell her.

"Why you drag me all the way back here?" She demanded as she looked at the three of us taking a moment to think when her eyes widened as she made a break through thought. "No way you're..." I nodded my head and a goofy grin on her face formed before she started shaking uncontrollably. "Oh my El! You're _the_ Strikers!?"

"Yes, and can you keep your voice down Ara?" Raven said with an annoyed look.

"Sorry Raven... But still, you guys gust got cooler!"

"And we weren't that cool before?" I asked her, raising an eye brow.

"Oh, don't get me wrong! You guys were awesome before! But now, you've all just reached a new level of cool for me! Oh, El, this is awesome!"

"But you have to promise to keep our identities safe all right." Eve said with a stern look.

"Come on Eve, you know I can keep a secret." She pouted. "And can you stop giving me that glare of yours Eve? You make me feel like I'm going to spontaneously combust!" She whined before she looked at me quickly.

"Saaayyyy... How do you three know how to fight? Lacher here doesn't look like he could hurt a fly and I've known both Eve and Raven for a while now and I know they hadn't taken any classes recently to pull off that awesome black ops stunt a few weeks ago."

"... Have you heard of the busting of a millionaire of the name Helputt Seiker?" She placed her hand on her chin and went into thought before nodding her head.

"Yeah, it had to do with some illegal project that made him go into hiding. What's that got to do with anything Lacher?" She asked.

"Well you see. What the project my father was working on was named Project Lazarus. The project was made for the soul purpose to create children supper assassins and that work resulted into myself, Eve, Raven, and a few others..." I said and she nodded as she took everything in before quirking her head off to the side as she looked at me.

"Wait, you're father? Your last name isn't Seiker, but Seighart!" She objected.

"That's because Lacher Seighart isn't my real name. My real name is Chung Seiker." She took the story really well and swore to secrecy about everything that very day and everything was going on normally. Now today was the week end so I had time to go training down in the basement. I'd completely remodeled the basement for my own personal needs and turned the room into a nearly full fledged training grounds. In there was a full workbench for me to tinker around with some devices I was building and fix anything that was broken, a bullet press to make my own ammo so I won't have to buy my own ammo, and I have to say, buying new 5.7x28mm bullets isn't cheap so making my own was the easiest rout. And with that, I could even make my own custom dart casings as well along with training rounds. There was a mini shooting range and I basically sound proofed the whole basement so we wouldn't make the neighbors suspicious of all the noise. I had punching dummies along with a punching bag to beat on along with a special training sim which consisted of 12 human sized targets all linked together into one computer. The computer would send a signal to a target to pop up and it would point me on how quickly I engaged the target and where I've hit the target with my pistols. The targets cycle through twice giving me a total of 24 targets and I've got one that cycles through random intervals for hand to hand combat with 6 targets surrounding me. Standing in the center, I loaded my two Fiveseven pistols with training rounds and started the target cycle. One target popped up to my back right and I spun around shooting it once in a head before another one popped up behind me again. I spun around again shooting another bullet and continued the process of eliminating each target as they popped up. The crack of the pistol firing and recoil of the gun felt natural to me to a point where it was peaceful. My movements were fluid as I went from target to target and the sound of brass casings hitting the ground was blissful. By the end of the training, two fresh holes were made in the targets head and I was breathing hard with sweat pouring down my body. Taking a towel, I whipped off all the sweat before looking at the computer to see my score and risen slightly above my previous high scores.

"Training hard I see?" I turned around to see Elsword leaning on the stairway railing looking at me amused.

"Knowing my father is looking for us only means that there is going to be trouble and I need to be on my A game."

"Is that the SSS side of yourself talking or your true self?" I hesitated as I went typed on the keyboard to get the hand-to-hand combat simulation up before continuing.

"They've suffered long enough because of my father. I don't want them to get hurt anymore than they've all ready have." I said as I wrapped tape around my hands and stepping into the center of the targets.

"You're still blaming yourself about what your father has done?" Elsword sighed as I started my hand to hand training, punching and kicking down targets as they popped up.

"It's my fault that I didn't stop him sooner." I grunted out as the time between targets quickened.

"But it isn't your fault for his actions Chung. You know that!" He yelled at me and I toned him out as I focused on my movements though I didn't know I was also tapping back into one of my old memories when I was with my father.

"_Father, why do I have to join in the training as well?"_

"_Because, I want you to join them in protecting us."_

"_But isn't that the reason why all these kids are being trained? To keep me and you safe?"_

"_My son, you don't understand. You will be treated specially. You'll get your own personal training by each teacher so you'll be the best of the best. With you, everyone else will be much safer." He said as he kneeled down and rested his hands on my shoulder. "I'll make sure you won't share the same fate as your mother had..." He said silently before looking at one a man clothed in all white. "Get him ready for operation and inform the instructors that they will be receiving another student._

"_Of course." The white clothed man took my hand and started to lead my down the hall way when I heard my name being shouted._

"_CHUNG!"_

Snapping back to reality, I noticed Elsword had his hands on my shoulder with a worried glance when I noticed that all six of the foam targets were destroyed and the plywood core was shattered and splintered spike were popping out.

"Chung!" Elsword said again and I looked at him confused. "What the hell was that?" He yelled at me and I only shook my head.

"It was only a memory..." I said lowly.

"Like hell that was! First you stopped responding to me and now you're going on to destroying these targets!" He said. "And how much are you truly capable of? You've never shown me your full strength yet and I know that those attackers yesterday was child's play."

"Nothing I'm going to show you anytime soon." I said.

"Anyways, what I was trying to tell you is that you've also got some visitors when you zoned out."

"Visitors?" I looked at him questionably when Eve I noticed Eve and Raven on the stairs looking at me. "Liked the little show?" I asked them.

"It was interesting... Shows a peak into what a SSS rank is really like." Eve said as she eyed the room. "Though how... Did you get all of this?"

"I uh... 'Borrowed' a large sum of money from my fathers bank account before I escaped and he still hasn't noticed that I've taken anything yet so yeah... I built and bought all of this." I said as I motioned around.

"Bullet press... Mini shooting range... And custom practice dummies... More than what I've got back with Rena." Raven said. "I guess being the son of a multimillionaire does have its ups..."

"Former son... I don't think I can ever call him my father again." Said as I clenched my fists. "Did they ever tell you why you've been tampered and trained the way you've been?" I asked them and they shook their heads. "Figures they'd keep quiet about... It's because of my fathers selfish claims and dreams. He trained us for who we are because he didn't want the pass to repeat again."

"Might I ask what he didn't want to repeat?" Eve asked and I hesitated before looking down.

"To be honest, it's still a touchy subject for me... Maybe later?"

"Of course." Stepping over the broken boards of my targets and unwrapping my hands I looked up at Raven and Eve.

"So, why are you two here anyways?"

"To invite you to some fun."

"Fun?" I looked at Eve curiously when Raven spoke up.

"It's her own way of training." He explained.

"And since we're going to be working together... I wanted to bring you closer to us. I've been doing this for some time with Raven so I wanted to see if you wanted to tag along."

"Where exactly are we going?"

"The shooting range."

"Distance?"

"Max is 600 yards. Most never shoot out to the 600 yard target and I've yet to see anyone that can out shoot me. Raven here can't, so I wondered if mister SSS rank here can do it." I raised my eye brow at her and she smirked. "That's if he can really shoot."

"You're questioning my rank?"

"Maybe.~" She said innocently and looked off the side before her amber eyes darted back meeting my own cerulean ones with a smirk.

"Oh, it's on. Can Els come?"

"Aisha and Rena always come with us to watch so why not? Though we don't have enough room for one more..."

"I could probably get Elesis to follow you. She doesn't have anything better to do anyways."

"Can I bring my own guns?"

"Of course you can."

"Give me a minute to clean up and I'll see you outside." I said as I walked past them up the stairs and jumped into the shower, taking a quick one and got into a pair of jeans and a hoodie. Going back down stairs to shove my weapons, extra magazines, and ammunition into a case before meeting them outside. Elesis was leaning on the hood of her car and got in before we all were off. It was some ways outside of the main city of Velder along the more rural areas when we pulled into a gravel driveway with a shack on one area and the shooting range next to and behind it. Getting out of the car, I looked over to Raven and Eve to see them pull out four long black gun cases and I smirked.

"Brought more than one toy I see." I said and Raven smirked.

"It wouldn't be fun if we only had one thing to play with." He said with a smirk before he motioned with his head towards the building. "Come on, we need to sign in and rent out a shooting box."

Following, we entered the building and came into a brightly light room with the walls covered in different target sheets with nice groupings of shots signed, some towers with gift cards and other consumer products along with a long glass casing with a bunch of fire arms lining the walls along with a man behind the counter, smiling at Eve and Raven.

"Welcome back Eve, Raven! And you brought more friends with you this time?"

"Lacher, I would like you to meet Lento, one of our friends that our old contact in Bethma hooked us up with. He knows just about everything about our past so-"

"Oi, Eve, is it all right to b sprouting information like that around?"

"It's all right Lento, he's one of us." He eyed me suspiciously before eyeing the weapons case I was carrying and smirked.

"If that's true, then those must be his personal weapons. May I have a look?" I nodded my head and walked up to him handing my case over to him. He popped it open the cases and picked up my two pistols with some surprise. "Fivesevens? Wow, these are pistols you don't see any day. How many rounds do these mags. hold?" He asked me.

"Standard holds 20 plus one in the chamber but with the magazine extensions bring the count up to 30." He loaded one of the empty mags and he nodded his head with approval.

"Interesting to see how 10 more rounds can be added with only a slight change in the size of these clips. And you duel-wield?" I nodded. "Damn man. 60 rounds of these things? I feel like you could never run out of ammo with these things." Placing them back in the case, he locked it again and handed it back to me before Eve paid the fee to rent out one of the boxes. "So Eve, gonna show these men out there who can really shoot a damn?" He asked and she smirked.

"Oh I am going to show them that a girl can easily do more than a man can... Though this sucker here thinks he can out shoot me as well." He gawked at me and I shrugged it off.

"_You_ think you can out shoot _her!?_" He asked me before pointing too the six targets above him with probably some of the best grouping I've ever seen. "She did that and each one that gets closer is a new one so good luck buddy. Just don't feel to bad when she whoops your ass." He said and I rolled my eyes. Getting out of the store, we made our way back to the shooting range.

"Well if it isn't Eve!" One guy called out.

"Eve my gal! Here to show some of these young fellas how to shoot straight?" Another said.

"You sure are popular here." I remarked and she only smiled.

"Being a girl and being one of the few here two can really shoot straight has their perks. They're all great shooters being ex-army snipers and SWAT snipers as well." She said before looking at the box at the end eyeing a guy with an unusual gun. "And Terry, what the hell is that thing?" She asked.

"This thing? An M82 Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle. It can easily out shoot your rifle but it still needs a good shooter behind it to be accurate. Wanna go?" He offered but she shook her head.

"Not today. Gotta show this chump here who's really the best shooter here." She pointed a thumb at me and he laughed.

"Good luck son! 'Cause you'll need it!" He and everyone laughed. Setting our weapon cases down on a table behind our shooting stall, Eve opened her own case to reveal the same beautiful sniper rifle she had used back at the school. Taking it out of the case, she pulled the bipod legs down and set it down onto the shooters bench before pulling a lever that sounded a siren and a red light to have a cease fire for everyone to get fresh targets up to shoot at.

"Now Lacher, go out there and get put up this target up on the 600 yard line would you?~" She gave me a wink and I sighed taking it as everyone else was walking out to change their targets. Raven even went out to set up a target a few yards away to give Aisha, Rena, and Elsword something to shoot at. Everyone had such a short walk but I had to jog all the way out to the 600 yard line to replace it. Reaching it, I stapled up the new target before I thought of something. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a single ED coin and stood it up in a crack on top of the target board. Being sure it staid, I jogged back to the firing line to see that everyone had set up some binoculars or some telescopic item to witness this little show down and all had focused in on the target.

"Rules are that each of us gets three rounds. Lacher here gets a fourth one though to get a feel for the rifle and that's all. Tightest grouping wins. I got the bottom left corner and you got the center of the target. Now to decide who's going first, we'll use this coin to decide. Call your side in the air." Lento said as he flicked it up into the air.

"Heads!" I called out.

"Tails." The coin hit the ground and bounced before it rolled and steeled down on the tails side. "And I win the coin toss. Good luck Lacher.~" She said, winking at me and Elsword elbowed me in the side.

"Dude, I think she's hittin' on you.~" He said before I bonked him in the head.

"I swear, there's something lose in your head..." I said when Lento commanded that we all put on our hearing protection. Elsword, Rena, Aisha, and Elesis put on ear muffs while I put in my own custom fit ear buds in so I can still hear everything but the gun sounds are within safe hearing parameters.

"Shooter ready!?" His voice boomed and Eve snuggled right into her rifle.

"Ready." She said and I looked into my own telescope to see the target.

"You may fire when ready." Instantly, there was a crack form her rifle as she fired and I saw the bullet arc through the sky and hit the target before she racked the bolt chambering a new round in. Firing again, I followed the vapor trail left by the bullet and it impacted with in a centimeter of the the last hole. Racking the bolt again, she sent her last bullet down range and it landed with in millimeters of the other two and some of the younger kids whistled.

"Young girl, how did you learn to shoot like that?" One of them asked and she smirked.

"Through a good teacher and lots of practice." She said before looking at me. "Your tern." She smirked and I rolled my eyes as I went up to her rifle. Taking it into my hands, I found it was excellently crafted. It was light yet had this durable feeling to it and it had this look of authority to it as if it was demanding for respect from everyone. Pulling the mag out, I loaded a new one in and wracked the bolt. The chambering was smooth and the bolt movement was smooth as can be as it locked itself into position. I steadied my breathing and went back to my own instincts on sharpshooting. My heart rate dropped as I focused into the center of the target.

"Shooter ready!" He announced.

"Ready." I said.

"Send it when ready." I let out a breath to steady my body before gently squeezing the trigger, sending my first round down range striking just above the center of the target. Racking the bolt, I aimed again and sent my second round down hit right next to the target. I got some murmurs of approval and surprise from people around me and mentally smirked as I racked the bolt again to load up my third round before sending it right between where my first two shots had landed. Achieving this feat, I got some wows, in return before I racked my last bullet into the chamber.

"Everyone see that small shinny yellow object on top of the target?" I asked before I centered the cross-hairs on to it. With this range, I could barely see it before I fired my last round down range.

"No way..." I heard Eve silently say as we all saw this small yellow object go flying into the air and everyone gasped.

"He-" Rena started.

"Hit-..." Aisha added to it.

"It..." Eve finished off their sentence and I pulled the bolt up and back ejecting the spent cartridge and everyone started to congratulate me. In the corner of my eye, I could see Eve glaring at me for some time before she lightened up and even smiled at me.

'_She's quite cute when she smiles...'_ I thought when Lento pulled the switch to turn the cease fire siren on and he walked out there to retrieve the target along with the coin. Coming back, everyone was admiring the marksman ship that both Eve and I displayed before he took a plastic back out and put the coin into it. He then took both the target and coin away to hang it up in his shop with a smile and everyone went on with their business at the range. I watched as Eve went to talk to some of the other young shooters on how to shoot better while I watched over Elsword as Raven and himself went over how to shoot before he pulled the trigger himself and achieved a bullseye with Raven's rifle.

"Yes! I hit the center! Sis, you saw that!?" He said enthusiastically and Elesis nodded when I stepped up with one of my Fiveseven's.

"Watch and learn Elboy." I said before looking at the target. He had achieved a headshot on the target and the bullet had landed in the center of the target and that gave me an idea. 20 rounds later and a few seconds, I had given the target two eyes along with 18 other new holes that made up a perfect smile, adding to the lil' hole Elsword made for his nose.

"Show off..." He grumbled and I heard Eve laugh as she saw what I've created with the target. Shooting has always calmed me down strangely enough so I felt at home on the range. We staid at the range for a while longer until we all ran out of ammo. By then, Elsword's arms was aching from the recoil of the rifles and he was groaning all the way home. We said our goodbyes for the day and I had a smile on my face in the car.

"Looks like someone here learned how to smile Elesis." Elsword joked as he turned around in some pain.

"I will admit it was fun... And this might get a little easier knowing how many contacts Eve might have." I said with a slight smile. "Anyways, what's for dinner tonight?"

_**Helputt's POV:**_

I mentally sighed as I read my report of the third assassin. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I put down the piece of paper with my head in turmoil.

'_Why Chung? Why do you still fight me?'_ I thought when a knock rung through the room.

"Come in." I looked up to see Penensio walk in with his ever blank face before he stood in front of me. "You read the report as well?" He nodded slowly. "Is there really no other option?"

"My Lord, I may, he was the one that leaked the information about your project. Not only did he kill one of the instructors to get free, he now is going to be leading point in resisting your chances to kill off both Veteran Commander and Code Nemesis."

"I know Penensio... It's just... He's my son and... His mother would never approve of this..."

"You've done this for her sir. It's not your fault. Chung needs to be put down or everything will be for nothing." I rested my head in my hand and sighed.

"You've been by my side since the very beginning. I thank you for that."

"I'm just doing my job." He said before resting his hand on my shoulder. "And it too pains me as well... But I will try my hardest to try and take him alive. He's special to me as well sir."

"You've always had a way with him Penensio. I trust the three rogue units to you."

**Wow, I got this chapter done a lot sooner than I thought I would! Sorry if this was a bit boring for some of you, I just thought of getting the point across of how much there's a gap between rank SS and SSS -w- Though next chapter I promise that it will be much more actiony! Until then, Anon, out!**


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